U.S. Hockey Headed To Quarterfinals, And Possible Gold

Now that you've seen the shootout victory over Russia and have Googled T.J. Oshie (or his girlfriend, Lauren Cosgrove), here is the latest update on the U.S. men's hockey team: Phil Kessel's natural hat trick led the Americans to a 5-1 victory over Slovenia. The U.S. is 3-0 and on to the quarterfinals. Three more victories will bring the team its first gold medal since the Miracle On Ice in 1980.

Lindsey Jacobellis of the U.S., the most accomplished snowboarder in history (eight time X Games champion) has gone another Olympics without a gold medal. Her best shot came in 2006 at Turin when she had gold locked up but showboated a little toward the end of her run, lost control and wound up with silver. She finished seventh in Sochi. ... Bob Costas, sidelined with pink eye, will return to your TV Monday as part of NBC's Olympics coverage. He missed six days after making 157 consecutive prime time Olympic appearances for NBC. ... The NBA All-Star Game was Sunday night in New Orleans, which has us wondering: What is the most unwatchable all-star game among the four major sports? We say the Pro Bowl, which, hopefully, the NFL will do away with.

For all the Yankees' offensive acquisitions (Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran) to offset the losses of Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson) the most important could be the reacquisition, so to speak, of Mark Teixeira. The first baseman played 15 games last year, leaving Lyle Overbay and others in charge. Teixeira said Sunday he hopes to play 150 games, hit 30 home runs and finish with over 100 RBI this season. "We're back to being the Yankees," Teixeira said. "Last year, we weren't the Yankees. We had so many injuries and we had so many guys that should have been there to be lots of anchors. That's back." … Bubba Watson won the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles, his first victory since the 2012 Masters. The first of his five PGA Tour victories was the 2010 Travelers Championship in Cromwell.

Pat Knight was 3-28 last season and 3-22 this season, his third at Lamar, so he wasn't surprised to be fired. That happened Sunday. Knight took over as Texas Tech coach when his father, Bob Knight, retired in 2008. He was fired in 2011 and soon took over at Lamar, where he did offer us a great postgame rant in 2012, saying he had the worst group of seniors he had ever coached. ... Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster, 36, announced he won't pitch this season but stopped short of saying he will retire. His career record with the Sox, Marlins, Reds, Cubs and Rangers is 132-133. … Austin Dillon won the pole for next Sunday's Daytona 500. Dillon, 23, is the grandson of team owner Richard Childress.